QATAR is planning to boost domestic food production through a series of farm-related finance initiatives.State-owned Qatar Development Bank () has been mandated by the government to identify and promote small and medium scale projects in agriculture with the focus on modern irrigation techniques.
These moves come at a time when the United Nations is warning that the world is facing “unprecedented” pressures to control soaring prices.
QDB general manager Sheikh Hamad bin Nasser al-Thani told Gulf Times yesterday that the bank had received several applications for financing farm-related projects in Qatar “which are currently under scrutiny”.
These projects have been forwarded to QDB by the Ministry of Agriculture and Municipal Affairs (MMAA). 

QDB and the MMAA have recently signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly promote small and medium scale projects in agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries.
Sheikh Hamad bin Nasser said that some farm projects might entail adoption of newer technologies because of the harsh weather conditions in Qatar.
For example, production of fruits or vegetables in normal conditions may not be feasible in Qatar because of the “unfavourable” climatic conditions. These may then have to be grown in green houses.
Irrigation is another area where modern technology has to come in, he said.
“Our farmers still rely on technology developed some 30 years ago. Modern irrigation techniques have boosted farm output in many countries. These have to be adopted in our agriculture sector as well,” Sheikh Hamad bin Nasser pointed out.
Asked the quantum of finance QDB planned to channel into the agriculture sector, he said: “I cannot give you the exact figure now. But it will be a significant amount given that our capital has recently been raised to QR10bn. This gives us more maneuverability to finance projects in agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries.”
Sheikh Hamad bin Nasser said Qatar was committed to raising the agriculture sector’s share to the GDP from the current 1%.
“A 1% contribution to the GDP is really insignificant.  We will have to increase it especially because our national policy is to diversify the economy away from oil and gas,” the general manager said.
He also said QDB would soon sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Qatar Tourism Authority to promote small and medium scale projects in tourism.
“We are giving a push to tourism by setting up the required infrastructure. There have been demands for financing small and medium scale tourism projects in the country. QDB intends to actively support such initiatives,” Sheikh Hamad bin Nasser said.
QDB’s assessment of various industrial and medical devices projects showed “encouraging results”.
“A majority of projects we have financed have been doing very well at the New Industrial Area. Our becoming Qatar Development Bank facilitated a fundamental change in our operations and further enhanced the scope of our financing portfolios. Earlier as QIDB we were confined to financing the industrial sector alone,” Sheikh Hamad bin Nasser said.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Economy and Trade Undersecretary Abdullah al-Qahtani has said the government is studying the prices of food items in the international market and its impact on Qatar.
“It is (also) drawing up a set of measures to deal with the situation,” a local Arabic daily quoted al-Qahtani as saying.
The official was speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing consultative meeting of the member states of the economic and social consultative council of West Asia (ESCOWA) in preparation for the international conference on development to be held in Doha at the end of this year.
Al-Qahtani said the government had prepared a study on food prices for three consecutive years from 2006 to 2008. He said it had analysed the factors that had led to the price increase and was studying subsidies.
Answering a question on the measures taken by the government to deal with the problem, he said the ministry had identified the commodities that were badly affected by the price rise and those that needed to be subsidised.
Government subsidies will cover rice and flour and a partial subsidy will be granted for sugar and milk.
Explaining the measures being taken for price control, he said that all the main suppliers of food items had been contacted.